January 9, 2017

One of the things I really want to do this year is to get back into some roleplaying games. I have played a few short ones recently but the plan is to run something that lasts a little longer. The usual go to system for my group, with me as the Story Teller at least, is Hunter: the Vigil. I recently picked up the newest edition and that has got the creativity working again.

I have been thinking about this chronicle for a while but I have to start making notes soon so that I can get everything compiled in a fashion that will make some sense. Having everything bubbling in my mind doesn't really make for a coherent game. The basic setting is a mid-sized town located in Green County, Wisconsin. The city is completely finctional and the county is very much an approximation of reality. I am calling the city Deliverance Falls. It was designed and built in the early 60's as a shining beacon of progress in the mid-west.

Deliverance Falls: A plan was developed in Chicago in the late fifties to build a high speed railway between the city and Madison, Wisconsin with an eventual connection to the twin cities of St.Paul/Minnesota. This was hoped to alleviate urban crowding in the big cities and facilitate commerce between the three State Capitals. The plan was finished and a budget assigned. The first phase was the laying of the railway line and building of the commuter towns along the route. It was decided that the first city should be the one located at the centre of the route, a symbol to the cooperation between Wisconsin and Illinois. A few small farmsteads were already in the area and went by the name of Deliverance. These were bought up quickly but the name was used in the early stages of the development. When the new town was finally planned theplanners had incorporated a small waterfall into the city as part of the city park. The urban planners thereafter renamed the city to Deliverance Falls.

Deliverance Falls was initially planned to be more than twice as large as it currently is. The infrastructure for the town was built first. The area was subject to flooding so a large network of storm drains and sewers were built. Once this task was completed work began on the town itself. The first half of the town, that surrounding the train station was rapidly built by investors in the project. The buildings were designed to form the heart of a new community and were subsequently designed to be taller than would be standard for such a city. Areas along the outskirts of the town were not developped extensively as the return on investment wasn't deemed by most of the investors to be currently worth it. The land was purchased however with hopes that rises in property value in the area over time would yield a healthy profit.

The train-line was built in record time connecting downtown Chicago to Deliverance Falls. The Wisconsin Government had collapsed after a scandal was revealed whereby Republican candidates were accepting monies from development lobbyists who wanted the train corridor moved to incorporate lands owned by them. As a result construction firms hired for the job hadn't yet begun heavy construction works but the railway corridor had been purchased and upgrades to Madisons railway station were underway albeit delayed. Delays also hampered the building of the high speed train.

Families eagerly moved into Deliverance Falls, the houses and apartments were cheap and while the connection to Chicago was still only served by slower commuter trains everyone was assured that very soon the first high speed Metroliner service would commence.

By 2015 Deliverance Falls is still not connected to Madison by train-line. The high speed connection still hasn't been delivered and talks are that the train-line itself would need extensive modification if indeed it was to be finally used. The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative has included the line connecting Chicago and Madison. Some hope exists that finally after sixty years in the planning that the original plan may come to fruition. Deliverance Falls has grown slowly with a number of small industries moving into the west of the city over the years. The population remains steady with sizable minorities living in the area. A large percentage of the workforce endure the long commute into Chicago every day while the rest work locally. Crime is low in the area and in general the city is peaceful and prosperous.

Just in case you are interested here is a link to my older Hunter: the Vigil chronicle on this blog:

January 4, 2017

I need to get back on track and do some painting. I have barely done any over the last year and while I have been blaming not having a clear hobby focus I realy think it comes down to me being a bit lazy. Well that and a severe lack of free time. I started my own company last year which seemed managable at the time and well while it has been relatively succesful it also means I have a lot less time than I would like to have. In the end it came down to having easier options to spend the idle hours in the evening on. However I am pretty determined to get back to the table and to do some painting. Exactly what I am going to do is the problem.

Anyway so what is the challenge part? The challenge is to paint 150pts (or equivalent) of an army a month as a baseline for my efforts. If I could manage that I would have a good 1800pt GW army which would be nice to have. I also have to restrict my spending. I don't currently spend that much on my hobby but I am getting more and more tempted by all the releases I am seeing. What options on painting do I have?

Ultramarines
I picked up some of my old Space Marines from the miniature repository that is my parents house. I have a few to my name but being honest I have never painted a Space Marine. I really want to start painting something new with a different style and this would be perfect for that. I wouldn't have to spend too much but as theses marines are from fifth edition I would have to update them a little. Inquisition
I don't really have many models for this but maybe enough for a retinue for an Inquisitor. I have always wanted an Inquisition army due to the sheer variety that the army can have and as such I could tie them in with the Marines above. I also note that there might be some new models coming out soon and if so that would definitely spark my interest. Khorne Bloodbound
I picked these up cheap recently and as a painting project they would be great. i have enough pieces from my old Chaos army to bulk up what I got so I could probably hit the 1800pts easily enough. I am also tempted to try out an underpainting technique on these which should make them fast to paint. That would also be important. Khador
I have had a sizable Khador force for a long while with only small bits of it painted up. While MKIII hasn't been tempting me too much I would like to get these models finished for a long time. I would have to buy a few things to update the force to be a more useable one, something I am hesitant to do. I also don't think I would enjoy painting them that much.Orruks
I missed out on the fantastic GW army deal in December for these. I would have had a completed force if I could have picked it up. Sadly it sold out fast. I have a lot of 'Ardboyz here already and I only need a few brutes and characters to have this army completed. If I was getting regular games of AOS I would definitely pick this army, sadly I am not.Free People
I always wanted an Empire army even though I actually had one. I collected an all mounted army a long time ago. Basically the idea was born of trying to get 1000pts for €100. I managed it by getting all knights. However I really wanted a foot army. I have a lot of bits I could use for this army and it is tempting to trawl ebay for the previous edition of miniatures. They don't come up that often and still sem to command a good price so I don't think I will go for this army just yet. Cowboys/Lawmen
Plans are already afoot here in Hamburg to have an ongoing Wild West themed game. An agreement may have been made to purchase these at Tactica this year. I guess these are definitely on the table.Malifaux
Again this is inevitable. I mainly play Malifaux and I want to have a crew. What is holding me back is the fact that I play almost exclusively online via VASSAL. Eventually however I will take the plunge.

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This blog is mainly a hobby diary of an Irish gamer once abandoned in the frozen wastes of Finland. Before that I was stranded in Germany and now I am returned to continue my exile there . I am mainly involved in gaming in the Hamburg area. If you wish to contact me please do so via this address.